Metrolink Customer Relations failure

This afternoon services to Altrincham were suspended due to a problem with the overheads near Timperley.

Metrolink staff at Piccadilly were advising people tickets would be accepted on the 263 bus but then adding if they were going to Altrincham they might as well take the Northern Rail service to Altrincham.

Now that sounds OK advice (provided people don't attempt to use Metrolink tickets on Northern Rail services.) However, the 14:17 Manchester-Chester was delayed by 41 minutes at Skelton Junction due to Metrolink trying to fix the problem with the electrics, while the 15:17 was delayed by 16 minutes at Skelton Junction for the same reason, meaning it would have been just as quick for people to take the all-stops 263 bus which runs every 15 minutes.

The rail problem was a failure of the single line between Northenden and Edgeley Junction which required pilotman working for a while but was fixed by late afternoon. Northern were accepting Metrolink tickets on their service on this occasion. The trams began running again at 22.30 so thankfully were running normally for Sunday's Greater Manchester Marathon, when many roads were closed in Trafford.